Mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) are, in my mind at least, the kings and queens of peace. They tend to hide in the tree foliage or the underbrush and watch things before they show themselves. Once they do come out, they are easily startled and if a scuffle breaks out, they quickly evacuate. They often show up to the feeding station with the little ground doves, although not always. The bunch of them may all feed together peacefully, or the ground doves may harass each other. Most of the time there is no apparent reason for the ground doves to start fighting. As soon as any of that starts it’s a safe bet that the mourning doves will be gone. And I have to say that in all the years I’ve been watching them, I’ve never seen any of the mourning doves act out towards each other or any of the other birds near them. This bird was racing away from an area where several cardinals were chasing each other around. Once it reached what it thought was a safe distance from the disturbance, it stood at complete attention until the cardinals had moved on (which never takes long when they’re acting like that). Like I said, the kings and queens of peace.